Bioaccumulation assessment of organic contaminants in the estuarine system of Santos-São Vicente, SP and in the lagoon-estuarine system Cananéia -Iguape, SP

Abstract

The Santos Estuary is one of the most economically important areas of Brazil. The city of Santos, where the estuarine area is situated, has the largest commercial harbor in South America as well as one of the most important petrochemical and metallurgical industrial centres in Brazil, the Cubatão industrial complex. The harbor and the industrial activity associated to intensive human activities contribute to the input of a large amount of organic pollutants such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and organochloride compounds that flow into the estuary through fluvial drainage, industrial wastewater and domestic sewage. On the south of the São Paulo State, the lagoon-estuarine system Cananéia-Iguape does not account with major ports or industrial activity and the anthropogenic activities are limited, but has in agriculture, banana crop, one of the main economic activities of the region. Agricultural inputs and pesticides used in this region flow to the estuary by fluvial drainage. Because of the intensive fishing activity for human consumption in these estuarine systems, the comprehension of the organic contaminant concentrations in seawater become an important factor due to the potential of bioaccumulation and biomagnification of these compounds in biological tissues. Due the low concentration of organic compounds in seawater, the quantification of PAH and organochlorides in seawater samples requires sensitive analytical techniques, and the preconcentration process are often required to detect these compounds. Techniques such as semi-permeable membranes devices (SPMD) and field-deployment bivalves can provide time-integrated information regarding the target compounds concentrations in seawater. In this context, the proposed study aims to study the concentration of PAH and organochloride compounds in seawater and to determine the potential of bioaccumulation of these compounds in marine organisms in the estuarine systems of Santos and Cananéia-Iguape through the deployment of bivalves and SPMD. The use of SPMD for analysis of organic compounds in water is incipient in Brazil. The implementation of this project would provide a new technique for analysis of organic compounds in water. (AU)